My Body Is A Big Fat Temple

An Ordinary Story of Pregnancy and Early Motherhood

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Pub Date 12 Oct 2021 | Archive Date 30 Nov 2021

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Description

My Body Is A Big Fat Temple, a memoir of pregnancy and early motherhood, follows a writer as she debates having children, miscarries, faces morning sickness, uncertainty, physical impairments, labor, breastfeeding, the “baby blues,” the heartache of not loving her son as she thinks she should, parenting through a plague, until finally (basically, mostly) blossoming into her new identity.

Creating life is a primal phenomenon. It requires grit, resilience, and a lot of bathroom breaks. There are dry heaves and darkened nipples, crotch lightning and brain fuzz, milk stains, sleep regressions, and equal amounts of despair and joy. It's a complicated magic. The undertaking is airbrushed to preserve the ideal of motherhood, and exacerbated by a culture that dictates what women can do and how they should feel. We don’t get the full story, so mothers with unromantic experiences feel like aberrations, and worse, alone. This is why the voices of women matter. The voices of mothers matter. Here’s one to remind you of the important things.
My Body Is A Big Fat Temple, a memoir of pregnancy and early motherhood, follows a writer as she debates having children, miscarries, faces morning sickness, uncertainty, physical impairments, labor...

A Note From the Publisher

Alena Dillon is the author of Mercy House, a Library Journal Best Book of 2020, which has been optioned as a television series produced by Amy Schumer, as well as The Happiest Girl in the World, a Good Morning America pick, and My Body Is A Big Fat Temple, a forthcoming memoir of pregnancy and early parenting.
Alena’s work has appeared in publications including LitHub, River Teeth, Slice Magazine, The Rumpus, The Doctor TJ Eckleburg Review, and Bustle.
She teaches creative writing and lives on the north shore of Boston with her husband, son, black lab, and lots of books.

Alena Dillon is the author of Mercy House, a Library Journal Best Book of 2020, which has been optioned as a television series produced by Amy Schumer, as well as The Happiest Girl in the World, a...


Advance Praise

Praise for The Happiest Girl In The World by Alena Dillon

"A searing look at elite gymnastics and the lengths an athlete will go to reach her goal."

-Elissa R. Slone, author of The Unraveling of Cassidy Holmes

"A brilliant and often heartbreaking account of a young girl striving to live a complicated dream"

-Blythe Lawrence, co-author of Aly Raisman's Fierce: How Competing For Myself Changed Everything

Praise for The Happiest Girl In The World by Alena Dillon

"A searing look at elite gymnastics and the lengths an athlete will go to reach her goal."

-Elissa R. Slone, author of The Unraveling of...


Available Editions

EDITION Other Format
ISBN 9781949116878
PRICE US$17.95 (USD)
PAGES 234

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Featured Reviews

My Body is a Big Fat Temple by Alena Dillon is the most raw and honest memoir that I’ve ever read about pregnancy and early motherhood. The author doesn’t sugarcoat anything here. The reader gets all of the nitty gritty details of each trimester, the birthing process, and all of the WTF moments that occur afterwards. A phrase I continuously repeated in my head while reading Dillon’s memoir is, “Oh, the memories!” It’s crazy how much you forget while growing a little human. I recommend this book for anyone curious about pregnancy, currently expecting, trying to conceive, and all of the warriors who want to relive the glorious madness. A candid, straightforward, and genuine narrative like Dillon’s would have been very much appreciated back in my early childbearing years! I laughed, cried, and nodded my head in solidarity. My Body is a Big Fat Temple releases on Tuesday, October 12th, and it receives 4/5 truthful stars from me!

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